Cans of pot launched over Mexico-Arizona border fence

Dec. 12, 2012
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Drug smugglers have found that a T-shirt gun, shown here as a Creighton University cheerleader shoots T-shirts into the crowd at a basketball game, can get marijuana over the border. But the Border Patrol ended up with the drugs. / Matt Ryerson, USA TODAY Sports

Weighing about 2-1/2 pounds each, the cans were found late last week scattered in a field here near the Colorado River, U.S. Border Patrol officials said Tuesday. The almost 85 pounds of contents were estimated to be worth $43,000.

Border officials said they believe that pneumatic cannons - similar to the guns that launch T-shirts and other items during sporting events - were used to shoot the cans about 500 feet over the border fence after drug smugglers had crossed the river. A carbon dioxide tank also was found in the area.

The find was "another unique but unsuccessful attempt" to smuggle drugs into the U.S., officials said. Smugglers try to come up with ways to counter authorities as border officials disrupt drug-smuggling patterns.

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